Springbok player Handre Pollard had South Africans feeling more united than ever after hearing a “funny story” he told of his teammate Bongi Mbonambi’s actions during a Rugby World Cup tournament as seen in an X (formally known as Twitter) video posted on 18 October.

 
Handre Pollard was interviewed about his incredible 55m penalty kick that helped move the Springboks to the final. South Africa defeated England with the scoreboard showing 15-16 by the end of the 2023 Rugby World Cup semi-final game that took place in Paris, France on Saturday.

The Springbok fly-half shared that when it’s time for him to take penalties, he merely just trusts the process and the hours he’s put in training. “[I] just go out there and deliver. You just try and do what you always do,” he said.

Pollard also added that his teammates often give him the confidence to give it his all. “Funny story… So we were still sort of discussing it on the field whether we gonna take it [the penalty] because it was quite a long way out than the circumstances of the game required. And the next thing Bongi Mbonambi walks to the ref and says ‘We are taking this shot’ and he screams in my ear ‘This is for South Africa!’ I think everyone started laughing hard. It gives you a lot of confidence as a kicker,” the fly-half said.

MORE ABOUT THE FLY-HALF’S KICKING AWESOME ABILITIES
The Springbok captain, Siya Kolisi also said he had no doubt Handre Pollard would have missed the winning-penalty seen in Saturday’s game, IOL reported. The fly-half is said to have taken the memorable kick with one eye closed and still had the ball seamlessly flying between the poles. “I had no doubt at all. Polly has done this kind of thing for us before. I knew it was going over,” Kolisi was quoted as saying